From the Inside Out
by TheBestEver222
Summary: Xana's up to something, but the group can't figure out just what. And when Odd starts hallucinating things that should really be left to the dark recesses of a maddened mind, he can't quite put two and two together. But what if it's not Xana at all? What if it's just him and his rapidly degrading sanity? Rated high T for gore, nightmares, and the such and such of Odd's suffering.
1. Prologue

**_Hello my little readers! Okay, so I finally have another story that's not a oneshot or a twoshot. About time I did that. So, this is my first Code Lyoko story, and I know I'm definitely too old for this show, but I really don't care because IT IS MY FAVORITE THING IN EXISTENCE. I love this show, so I just had to write a story about it, and Odd is my favorite character, so I just had to torture him. Anyway, hope you enjoy the prologue. I'll be updated this every Monday, and it'll only have like seven chapters or something. And I know this is short, but it's a prologue, so it's allowed to be short. Don't make fun of it for it's height._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. If I did, you could bet that there would be a lot more Sibling!Oddlita and a lot more of the shipping of ships._**

It was late at night. The Moon hung high in the sky, providing the only other light aside from that of the stars. Below ground, inside a once long-forgotten room in an old, abandoned factory, the soft humming and whirring of machinery echoed off metal walls. The room, as well as the rest of the building, was unoccupied then, or so it was thought to be. But the sound of mechanical doors opening belied the apparent emptiness.

Out of one of the capsules that lie within the deep recesses of the building came a creature, so small that one would miss it if they weren't looking. Roughly round and with six legs, the creatures was mostly black, its only inconsistency in color the even tinier symbol printed on its back. The insignia looked sort of like an eye, though somewhat misshapen, and it glowed a faint, ominous purple.

Where the bug had come from may not have been very important to most who would encounter it that evening, for various reasons, but to the one person that the creature was after, the information of its origin could not have been more vital. Its creator was none other than the being called Xana.

And as the bug crawled through gaps in doors and floors alike, its creator felt somewhat giddy. He would be rid of those pest who always managed to stop him once and for all. He'd get rid of them, one by one, so slowly and inconspicuously that no one would know what was going on until it was already over.

He altered that stupid boy's program so that he couldn't detect an activated tower, and Aelita was now back on Earth rather than in Lyoko. She wouldn't be able to detect anything that the program did not, so they would not find out until it was too late to save at least one of the brats. And then the others would be so upset over the fact that their friend was too overcome by madness to recognize them, they'd probably be incapable of doing much. So long as they did not find it until the process was complete, they wouldn't be able to do anything.

His plan was fool proof, exceptionally so. The creature would burrow beneath the skin just under the hairline, where it would toy with the mind of its victim, and where no one would see it unless intently looking for it. And slowly, it would destroy the sanity of whatever organism it attached itself to, until eventually there was nothing left but tattered remains. And what better way to drive someone insane than with visions of them murdering those they held closest to their heart?

He'd start with the one who looked like a cat, slowly corrode his mind until he was too far gone to function. He would destroy their little group one by one, from the inside out.


	2. Chapter One

**_Hey guys! Here's the first chapter, I hope you enjoy!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. Maybe one day…_**

"Xana's been quiet lately," Jeremie said aloud to the group as they all gathered at the same table for lunch. "There hasn't been any disturbances in Lyoko since the last tower two weeks ago."

"You act like that's a bad thing," Ulrich pointed out, picking up his fork to begin eating.

"It very well could be. Who knows what Xana is plotting?" Jeremie replied.

"Well, I, for one, am thankful that nothing's gone wrong for a while. I like it when Xana's quiet," Odd said, scratching at the back of his neck absentmindedly. His skin had really been crawling there lately.

Jeremie looked unsure. "Yeah, I guess. I just feel like there's something going on. It's unusual for Xana to act like this."

"Yeah, I agree with Jeremie. We should keep an eye out. Xana's behavior is strange," Aelita warned.

"Oh well, 'choosers can be beggars', or however the saying goes," Odd responded nonchalantly.

"It's 'beggars can't be choosers', Odd." Yumi rolled her eyes at his ignorance.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Odd brushed off her correction, shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. Like it mattered all that much anyway. He scratched at the spot on the back of his neck again, hoping to obliterate that incessant itching.

"Hey, Einstein? Did you do that homework for-" Odd stopped mid-sentence, eyes transfixed on his own hands that he had used to wipe away any excess mashed potatoes left behind on his face. Was that… No, no, it couldn't be… But that looked an awful lot like… Blood.

Odd stared at his hands that appeared coated with the crimson liquid. How had it gotten there and, more importantly, whose was it?

He looked to his friends, hoping to find the answer somewhere within their ranks, but instead came face to face with Jeremie, except he was missing something.

His eyes.

It looked as though someone had clawed his eyes from their sockets, the same dark red substance that covered Odd's own hands staining the skin around the gaping holes.

"Jeremie?" The word was quiet and tremulous, and Odd wasn't sure whether anyone else heard him. He was unable to say anything else. His blood-slick hands wouldn't stop shaking.

"Hey! Odd!" Yumi, who was sitting beside him, snapped her fingers in front of his face, pulling him back to reality. Thankfully. Jeremie's appearance turned back to normal instantly, as though Odd had blinked and all had gone back to how it was supposed to be.

Odd chanced a glimpse at his hands, though they were just as they had always been, albeit still quivering slightly. Again, thankfully.

He warily looked around the room, trying to figure out if anything else was amiss, but all was well. It was as though nothing happened at all. Did Odd imagine it?

"Something wrong, Odd?" Jeremie asked, "You seemed a bit distracted. What was your question?"

"M-my-my question?" Odd stuttered out between chattering teeth. To say he was shaken by what he had just seen was an understatement. "Oh! Right! My question. Uh, never- nevermind. I forgot what it was."

"You sure you're okay, Odd? You zoned out for a few minutes there," Aelita inquired from across the table, seemingly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I thought I saw something, but I guess I just imagined it."

"Well, if you're sure," Aelita said, letting it slid, although she did look at him suspiciously from out of the corner of her eye.

"Anyway, I've gotta go," Odd excused himself, picking up his tray to dispose of it.

"But you didn't even finish your food!" Ulrich exclaimed, probably shocked beyond belief that _Odd_ would ever even think of doing such a thing.

"Yeah, I've got a bit of a stomachache," Odd lied. He just wanted to get away from this crowded lunch hall for awhile so that he could figure out exactly what he saw, if he actually even saw anything at all.

"Okay… See you in class, then," Ulrich said dubiously, hesitantly waving to his friend as Odd exited the cafeteria. Odd wasn't sure where he was going to go at this time of day, but it seemed his only options were either the woods or the factory. The factory it was, then.


	3. Chapter Two

The quiet hum that came from the machines in the factory was a strange sort of catharsis to Odd. Maybe he should have been a bit more unsettled, sitting curled up in the corner of a room that lie within an otherwise deserted building, but he wasn't. He was just happy that he wasn't seeing anything crazy anymore.

It almost seemed as though his startling vision from earlier had been some trick of the light combined with his own overactive imagination. And Odd made himself believe that for the time being, because it was easier than accepting that he could have _actually_ seen something like that. But if it was nothing, why was he sitting alone in a building devoid of any other life? He didn't feel inclined to answer that question.

However, as much as he was able to evade the truth, he couldn't help but keep glancing down at his hands, just to be sure that they were perfectly clean. They were, for the most part. There was no more blood.

"What am I doing?" Odd thought out loud to himself. "Sitting here, all by myself in an empty factory because of something that I imagined."

He rolled his eyes at himself. He couldn't help but think of how stupid that was. He had to get to class, anyway. He already skipped one period to brood in silence about hallucinated fatalities, and there was no use sitting there like an idiot for another one.

Odd stood from the floor, wobbling for a moment on unsteady legs, before exiting the factory via tunnel and rushing to get to his designated class on time. He was only five minutes late.

Jeremie, Ulrich, and Aelita gave him questioning glances as he seated himself, but when Ulrich – next to whom he sat – tried to ask him where he was and what he was doing, Odd was quick to shush him and attempt to pay attention, something seldom seen from the eccentric blond. Odd didn't really feel like explaining what happened, especially when he was sure that it was nothing. Or maybe it was because he was repeatedly telling himself that it was nothing and he still didn't really believe it.

Try as he might to pay attention, however, Odd soon got bored of the constant talk of things he didn't really understand, and before he knew it, his eyelids were drooping and the voice of his teacher was fading in and out of his hearing, words mixed together so that they made even less sense in his brain. Reality faded into the background as Odd was lulled to sleep by the thrum of the subdued noises around him.

 _Dark._

 _It's dark, and Odd can't see a thing. Has it always been this dark? Odd can't seem to recall it ever having been different. But it couldn't have always been this way, because he can vaguely picture what light looks like – what it_ _ **feels**_ _like – so he has to have had some sort of experience with it at some point._

 _But Odd's not entirely sure, because the darkness is oppressive and all-encompassing, and it seems as though nothing could ever be rid of it, so much so that he feels as though he is breathing in the very absence of light, and all of a sudden he finds it rather difficult to breathe at all. But he manages, and when he finally sucks a deep breath of air into his sorely oxygen-deprived lungs, the darkness is gone, replaced by the light that Odd now knows he has seen before. But now, Odd wishes that the darkness is back, so that it can hide the morbid sight that the light has allowed him to see._

 _His friends – or he's pretty sure they're his friends, because he vaguely remembers excited voices and happy laughter that he associates with the faces in front of him, but it feels so long ago, and he's not certain. In any case, he clearly knew them, was maybe even fond of them, but they aren't really them anymore, not in the living sense of the word. Because that's just what they aren't any longer. Living. They're just blood and flesh and bones and more blood – because there is a lot of blood – but they show no other expressions aside from the ones of frozen horror that still remain faintly in the creases of their faces, even though the muscles there have long since slackened._

 _What happened? Even if these four weren't his friends, they were still his fellow human beings, and it seems unforgivable to do such a thing to those of your own species, and Odd finds it unbelievable that someone_ _ **human**_ _could do such a thing. But the strange weight in his hand, which he had not taken note of until now, tells a different story._

 _He throws the knife in his hand as far as he can, and suddenly he can recall the names that match up with the faces of those he now knows for certain were his comrades. Yumi. Ulrich. Jeremie. Aelita._

 _Did he do this? But how? He can't even recall doing something so horrible. Yet knives and blood don't lie, they haven't the tongues to deceive with. But maybe knives and blood distort the truth they attempt to reflect. Or maybe it was already crooked to begin with._

 _He can't even stand anymore, his legs are too shaky. He sinks to the floor, trembling considerably, and he can no longer swallow past the lump in his throat. He frantically tries to wipe off the blood on his hands, but when it doesn't come off and instead spreads to his arms, he hiccups and is unable to stop the hysterics from coming._

 _He can identify each of his friends by name and face, and can even remember everything they've done together, but he can't remember how or why he is here, or how or why he has done such a thing._

 _He glances at Aelita, but averts his gaze just as quickly. Her rosy hair is stuck to her forehead by what Odd can only assume is blood, and that's all he can decipher from the brief glimpse of the girl, but it's enough. He believes that the others are much the same, though he doesn't dare look any closer for fear that they are worse._

 _His breath hitches on a sob, and his face is wet with something other than blood, which he soon realizes is his own tears. His chest aches unbearably, and he's not sure how to fix what he has done, but he wants to so badly that it makes the rest of him ache as well._

 _How could he have done such a thing to his friends? He's horrible, disgusting, revolting, a monst-_

"Mr. Della Robbia!" Ms. Hertz's voice sounded from the front of the room. Because that's where he was, in a classroom. He wasn't in some dingy building surrounded by the blood-spattered corpses of his closest friends, he was just in a classroom.

Odd's heart was beating so fast and so loudly that he found it hard to focus on much else, and his mouth felt as though it were full of cotton balls. He tried to swallow but failed, much to his chagrin. He took a deep breath to steady his heartbeat before looking around the room.

He easily spotted Ulrich, who was right by his side with a bemused expression settled in the creases of his – still moving, still living – face, as well as Jeremie and Aelita a few desks over, who looked much the same. Odd was just happy that they could still show emotion at all.

"If you're quite done sleeping, would you care to answer the question?" Ms. Hertz asked, exasperated.

Odd opened his mouth to speak, but his dry throat prohibited such attempts, and instead all that came out was a faint squeaking sound, like that of an old, rusty door thrown open by the wind in a cliché horror movie

The whole class – save his friends – burst out laughing, and Ms. Hertz glared at him as though he had meant to cause the commotion. Odd couldn't bring himself to care, though. He just wanted to get out of class and see Yumi, make sure that she was also alright. He wanted to be absolutely certain that they were all safe.

His wish was granted when the bell finally rang, signaling the end of class for the day. Odd was quick to stand up and rush out of the room, but he was stopped just outside the door by a hand on his shoulder.

"Odd, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Jeremie said, and the worry that had occupied Aelita's expression at lunch appeared to have spread to the rest of his companions' faces. Concern must have been contagious.

Well, Jeremie wasn't too far off, except that he hadn't seen a ghost so much as created several. The thought made him shiver despite the warm air outside.

Odd swallowed again, this time regaining the ability to speak, and said, "No, no-othing like that."

"It sure didn't look like nothing. You looked scared half to death when Ms. Hertz woke you up," Aelita argued. The mention of death made Odd blanch, and his stomach roiled to the point that he was sure he was going to throw up what little he ate for lunch.

"I-I'm fine, just had a, um, a bit of a weird dream, ya know?" Odd stuttered out in what he hoped was a believable voice. All he wanted was to go check on Yumi, and then maybe play some video games or something to get his mind off of things.

"Dude, you look like you're about to be sick," Ulrich commented, and Odd shook his head.

"I'm fine. Promise," Odd said in a far more convincing tone. "Let's just go meet up with Yumi and head to the factory or something, check up on the whole Xana situation, maybe."

"Okay, if you're sure you're alright," Jeremie said. Odd nodded to show that he was, in fact, perfectly fine.

"Alright, let's go get Yumi and then we can all hang out in my room?" Jeremie said, though it seemed more like he was asking him if he was okay with that, so Odd nodded again, and they were off.


	4. Chapter Three

After meeting up with Yumi and asking her to accompany them – and after Odd reassured himself that she was indeed fine – they went to Jeremie's room, where they all sat scattered about the place. Somehow, the conversation returned to Xana's silence quite easily.

"Especially since that false alarm two days ago, I'm worried that Xana might be up to something," Aelita explained, much the same as Jeremie had earlier that day.

"Well, there's no use worrying about something we can't do anything about. All we can do is wait for Xana to pop up again and stop him when he does," Yumi said in what Odd believed was an attempt to ease any qualms the two had about their current situation.

"Yeah, Yumi's right. Let's just enjoy the peace while we can," Ulrich agreed.

Odd replied with, "You'd agree with anything Yumi said!" But somehow, he didn't feel quite as into his taunts as before.

But even though Odd hadn't put much energy behind his words, both Ulrich and Yumi blushed red and scooted further away from each other, and Ulrich shot a glare at the blond. Odd smiled sweetly in response, and the expression didn't feel as strange on his face as he thought it would.

And then it happened again. The world distorted slightly around Odd, the light in the room dimming ominously, and Ulrich's glare was replaced by deadened eyes, his scowl becoming marred by blood. The cold feeling of dread once again wrapped Odd in its embrace, and he felt his breathing momentarily stop. The corners of his mouth dropped from their smile.

Odd didn't dare look at his hands, for fear that they would once again be colored crimson. And when Ulrich's mouth moved as though he were speaking – cursing him, perhaps – a shiver of fear ran down Odd's spine, making the rest of him tremble with fright as well.

Then the vision was gone, just as suddenly as it had come, and the noises of reality filled Odd's ears once more.

"Odd? Odd! Dude, are you alright?" Ulrich asked, closer to him than Odd had realized whilst in the depths of his delusions.

Odd tentatively reached out with his forefinger and touched the spot on Ulrich's chin where the blood had been without even realizing what he was doing. When Odd pulled his hand away at Ulrich's confused expression, the deathly liquid did not stain his hands nor Ulrich's own face.

"Odd, you seem a little…off. You're kinda freaking me out. Are you sure you're okay?" Ulrich queried again, and Odd could feel the gazes of his other friends on him, waiting, wanting to hear the answer just as much as Ulrich.

"Sorry about that. I've got a killer headache. I think I'll go to bed now, get some rest and all that," Odd excused himself, exiting the room without another word.

He hadn't really been lying, his head was aching, though maybe not so much from illness – as his friends may have assumed – but more from the fact that every time he looked at Ulrich, or Jeremie, or – he presumed – Yumi or Aelita, they appeared grotesquely disfigured, and more often than not by his own hands. It did make his head pound profusely, and his stomach was doing flips again. Maybe if he got some sleep, all of his worries would disappear. He could think of no other alternative aside from staring at the ceiling endlessly, and he would rather not do that.

He entered his and Ulrich's shared room and was immediately greeted by Kiwi.

"Hey, Kiwi," he said, scratching the dog briefly behind the ear before lying down in his bed on top of the covers and curling up into a ball. Kiwi was quick to join him, the little dog making himself comfortable at Odd's feet and yawning loudly.

"Yeah, I'm tired too. It's been a long day, huh?" Odd whispered, letting his eyes close and allowing himself to be tugged under by the suddenly present pull of sleep and what he hoped was the promise of relief from the weight of the real world for a while. Too bad his dreams were worse than the real world could ever hope to be.


	5. Chapter Four

**_Hey guys! Here's chapter four! Yes, I am aware that not many are reading this, but I was kind of expecting that since the Code Lyoko fandom isn't exactly big. I do appreciate when you guys who do read comment though! So thanks for that! Anyway, onwards, to the story!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: Idk if I put these in the last couple chapters, but I'll put one now to make up for it. I own nothing except for the crazy._**

 _He isn't sure where he is or what he's doing, but he's here, and it feels wrong and like he's not supposed to be here at all. It's cold and damp and musty-smelling, and the combination sends chills down his spine as he walks, because he is walking, and he's not sure when he even started doing so or if there was ever a time when he wasn't. It's an unsettling feeling, not knowing something so simple, so normal. The trepidation that has laced its way through his stomach is a sure sign that something isn't right, and he has a feeling that he's about to find out just what it is that isn't so._

 _And then his legs stop, seemingly of their own volition, in front of a half-opened door. The sensation of being still feels strange to him, for he feels as though he has been walking for the longest time, maybe forever. Even so, he does stop, and he doesn't move for what seems another amount of time similar to forever, and the suspense and anxiety is killing him, and he just wants this all to be over with so he can go do… whatever he had been doing before this, if there had even been a before this._

 _And then his hand is pushing the door open. Not him, just his hand, because it moves on its own, as his legs did before it._

 _The sight is revolting, enough to make him want to puke. He tries to close his eyes, but he is unable to, for they will not listen to his brain's commands. It both frustrates and scares him, because if he can't control his own extremities, who knows what they'll do by themselves?_

 _However, his fear overpowers the exasperation as his head turns of its own accord, almost as though it is surveying the grotesque scene before him. He would rather have his eyes clawed out at this point._

 _Blood. There is so much blood. Why is it always blood? Every time the amount of the sticky substance is overwhelming, though he's not sure how he knows this, because he can't recall anything else other than this. But he just knows, and he doesn't question it any further._

 _Something is strange about this scene, different than what his brain has assumed, because his brain is assuming for some reason that he isn't sure of. There is another person here. There's Ulrich, Jeremie, Yumi, Aelita. But whose is the other body there? Who is it supposed to have been? He can't tell much, they don't really look like a person anymore, but the dark hair and somehow familiar clothing tell him otherwise. It takes his slow brain a moment, but he eventually realizes._

 _William._

 _He feels like he's going to be sick and at the same time burst into tears at the sight of him, and he thinks he'd have that reaction if it were anyone. He's certain the revolting feeling inside of him would remain the same no matter whose mangled corpse he was looking at. It's only human, he thinks._

 _His head turns at the sound of footsteps that echo ominously from a far-off location in a corridor connecting to the room and make him feel uneasy, and he wishes that he is able to move, to run. But he can't. He's starting to doubt that he'll ever be able to._

 _Someone's coming, and he fears that they'll kill him next, just as they have his friends before him, slaughtered them and left their bodies in this very room to rot. Left them for him to find, he thinks._

 _The footsteps grow louder, until they seem to be coming from every direction all at once. They're almost deafening to his ears._

 _The person rounds the corner, and the footsteps come to a halt. The killer, the cold-blooded murderer, it's…him._

 _The him that isn't him turns to face him, staring at him, almost_ _ **through**_ _him. He opens his mouth, eyes deadened, face crumbling, knowing smirk set on his lips, and says, "Monster."_

Odd's eyes slowly opened. They didn't snap open quickly, and he didn't bolt straight up right. He just woke up, normal as ever. As if the dream he was just having wasn't about the murder of his fellow classmates and – for the most part – best friends. He was greeted by the familiar sight of his dimly lit dorm room.

His breathing sped up and his heartbeat increased rapidly, perhaps a late reaction to what he'd dreamt. The nightmare was rushing through his mind, and he couldn't seem to stop it. It was him. It had been him.

Odd looked around, across the room, and could just make out by the Moon's light Ulrich's lumpy form on the bed opposite him. He looked fast asleep. Calm. Peaceful. Not dead. Never dead.

Odd took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down, and succeeded in doing so, albeit only slightly. It was enough, however, to ensure that he wouldn't asphyxiate out of sheer terror.

He stared at the ceiling, willing memories of reality and dream alike to leave his mind, to stop tormenting him in the most vile of ways. They did not cease, though. He didn't understand the dreams, didn't get why he was having them. And why was William there? He'd only known the other male for not even a month – or maybe it had been? Odd wasn't sure. He was losing track of time.

Odd could already feel himself falling into some strange cycle of fall asleep, have a macabre nightmare, wake up, go to school, have terrifyingly real visions of his friends _bleeding_ _to_ _death_ , return from school, repeat. He really hoped more than anything else that the cycle would not continue, but he had a feeling that whatever was making him suffer didn't really care what he wanted.

A short glance out the window showed the lightening sky. It would be futile to try to go back to sleep, it was nearly time for him to get up. At least the day's school hours would be short, and there was no school on Sundays.

In all honesty though, he wasn't sure what he'd do after school. If he hung out with his friends, he might hallucinate again. If he slept, he knew he'd have nightmares. How could he avoid his friends without the pretense of needing sleep? Especially Ulrich. The two shared a room, making it more than difficult for him to hide most things from the other boy.

Kiwi startled Odd from his thoughts as the dog jumped suddenly onto his bed. He must have gotten up sometime during the night and wandered around the room. Kiwi never could be entertained by sleep for long.

"Hey, Kiwi. How's my diggity-dog?" Odd greeted him with a pat on the head. The nickname didn't come out with as much enthusiasm as it usually did, but still, saying it made Odd feel a little better.

Kiwi tilted his head to the side inquisitively before affectionately licking Odd's hand and offering a quiet yip in response.

"Shhh, don't wake Ulrich." Odd put a finger to his lips as he said this. "He'd be pretty upset about that."

The dog simply curled up in Odd's lap and was content to just have his owner pet him. Odd stroked the pup absentmindedly, taking brief breaks every once in a while to scratch at the itch on the back of his neck that was growing increasingly more bothersome.

After one such time, Odd let his hand fall from the nape of his neck to the bed, letting out a sigh.

"What am I gonna do, Kiwi?" Odd fell back on to the mattress with a soft thud, promptly startling the small dog in his lap and forcing him to move. Kiwi laid on his chest instead, staring at Odd as he did so.

"This whole thing is just… Ugh, I don't even _know_ what it is," Odd said, closing his eyes for a moment in frustration. When he opened them again, he jumped from his bed and landed none-too-gracefully on the floor with a loud thump. Kiwi… He didn't… Why was he… _Kiwi_?

No, this couldn't be happening. Not again. Not with his _dog_. He'd thought he'd been safe in here, he didn't think that he'd see _Kiwi_ like this. He was just a dog, for crying out loud! What had he done?

Kiwi tilted his head to the side just as he had moments ago, except this time it looked far more ghastly. It was like someone had torn off patches of his skin, and perhaps one of his eyes as well. It was a morbid sight indeed.

"Odd?" Ulrich.

He didn't mean to, but he woke up the other boy with all the commotion. Maybe it was a good thing. If he heard someone speaking, that meant he'd snapped out of it, right?

Wrong. So incredibly _wrong_.

"Ulrich, I-" Odd wasn't exactly sure what he'd been intending to say, but whatever it was, the sight of his roommate immediately stopped it from being spoken. Instead, what came out was what could only be described as a pitiful sort of squeaking-whimper. Odd didn't even have the mind to defend his pride at such a time.

He looked different from last time, a wound to the temple replacing the blood that had dripped from his mouth, but the sight was still just as grotesque. Ulrich stumbled toward him, muttering incomprehensibly as he went. Maybe Odd would have been able to read his lips had he not been so occupied with staring at the deathly blow that had been dealt to the side of his head.

It wasn't until Ulrich's face was right up in his own that he finally looked him in his eyes. His cold, dead eyes. In that moment, Ulrich uttered one word, and this time Odd could make it out.

 _"Why?"_

"Odd!" Ulrich's face snapped back to normal with the yell, just as it had been before, and Odd could finally breathe again.

Ulrich backed up when he realized that he at last gained Odd's attention, taking a seat in front of the blond on the floor. "Seriously, dude. What the hell is going on with you?"

"I-I-" Odd was unable to form proper words, his heart rate just beginning to slow.

"You look like you just witnessed a murder or somethin'." Ulrich paused, before asking hesitantly, "Did you witness a murder?"

"Wha-what? No, I-I didn't- I haven't- I just… I was just dreaming, I guess. I must have been half asleep or something." Odd attempted to laugh it off, but it came out as more of a strangled choke.

Ulrich squinted at him as though trying extremely hard to see into his mind. For a moment, Odd irrationally feared that he'd succeed.

But then, Ulrich stood and said, "Okay, if that's all. But if something was going on, you'd tell me and the others, right? After all, it could be Xana."

Odd nodded, more in agreement to Ulrich's statement than in answer to his inquiry. He couldn't tell them.

Then again, maybe Ulrich was right about the possibility of it being Xana. But if that were the case, why was he the only one seeing things? Wouldn't it make sense that someone else was also affected? And even so, why now? He hadn't been in Lyoko for a while, and nothing peculiar had happened in the past week that he could recall. It just didn't make any sense. He couldn't figure out any way that Xana could be behind this, especially if he hadn't activated a tower.

So, if Xana wasn't doing this – if there was no way that he _could_ be doing this – did that mean… Did that mean that Odd was truly losing his mind?


	6. Chapter Five

After Odd's early-morning freak-out, Ulrich kept glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, as if the other boy was a ticking time-bomb, and he expected him to go off at any moment. Maybe Ulrich was right, but that didn't make Odd feel any better about it. He preferred not being reminded that he very well could have another hallucination at any given time. He thought that maybe Ulrich had – at some point without him noticing – informed the others of the situation as well, as they too seemed to be keeping an eye on him when at all possible. This only made things worse.

He would have liked to tell them, but the thought of explaining to his friends that he might actually be going crazy wasn't exactly the most appealing thing. And telling someone would make it that much more real, which Odd was still trying considerably hard to deny.

But even with all the constant worry and reminders, Odd didn't have any of his fits during school, and he thought that maybe he'd be able to last at least until he returned to his room. But of course, he had no such luck.

First, they were interrupted on their way to the factory by William, and the sight of him made Odd feel sick to his stomach. There was a second in which he was pulled away from the moment and into his own mind, his own memories of nightmarish scenes, but he was quickly pulled back to reality by an inquiry from William on his well-being. He hated the boy's presence and wanted to burst into tears and hug him all at the same time. He felt that way about all who had fallen victim to his cruel imagination. It was awful and annoying.

It was only after he was swiftly assured that, yes, Odd _was_ fine, and after speaking to Yumi – probably confessing his undying love for her, if Odd had to guess – William finally left, and they were back on their way to the factory.

It was Yumi this time, the first he really saw her in such a state, dream or otherwise. It had been so normal a situation that he was more surprised than he should have been given the number of times it had already happened. They were all walking towards the factory, on the way to which Odd had planned to make up an excuse that would result in him being left alone for at least the next few hours.

It was almost like time stood still when Yumi suddenly turned to look at him, face marred by claw marks, as if she'd been attacked by some wild animal. Her eyes were dull, lifeless, like those of a statue. They looked all wrong on someone who had only moments ago been counted as one of the living. Somehow, though, she didn't act quite as her soulless eyes would suggest.

She took a staggering step towards him, seemingly unsteady, but the way she continued to advance – quickly and forcefully – made Odd think that maybe she wasn't as out of it as he may have otherwise assumed.

Odd was too scared to move, he was frozen on the spot as the so zombie-like version of Yumi rapidly approached him. It took her hardly any time at all, and before Odd could fully register in his mind that it would be a really good idea to _move_ , she had him by the shoulders. She stared into his eyes – though Odd felt more like she was staring into his very _soul_ – and mumbled something, only one short sentence.

 _"How could you do this?"_

Odd back-pedaled, desperately trying to escape the horrific vision that felt so very real. He ended up landing on his bottom on the ground, but as Yumi began to approach him once more, he jumped to his feet and ran away as fast as he possibly could, which was pretty fast, after all. He didn't dare look back, afraid that if he did it would only hinder his escape.

He thought that people might be trying to ask him where he was going as he ran, but he was too focused on putting one foot in front of the other and trying to keep his breathing as even as possible to really hear what they were saying.

A hand grabbed him by the arm, but he simply shook it off, believing in his delusional state that it was the demonic Yumi he was running from. He kept running, didn't want to ever stop, because stopping meant getting caught, and getting caught might mean the end. To his life or to his sanity, he wasn't quite sure.

He ran into a building at random, the closest one that he could. And he darted into the first room he encountered with a lockable door, which just so happened to be the boys' bathroom. At least it wasn't the girls'.

He twisted the lock and slide down to the floor slowly, catching his breath in the process. There was no banging at the door or attempts made to get in. He must have lost her.

Lost her…

"What is happening to me?!" Odd shouted aloud to himself in frustration, pulling at his hair as though it would help fix his clearly unstable mental state. Now that he was no longer in the midst of his insane hallucinations, he realized that it probably wasn't even real. He just imagined it again.

He stood from his spot on the tiled floor, walking carefully over to one of the sinks that lined the walls of the deserted bathroom. He examined himself closely in the reflective glass, trying to find something. What exactly, he didn't yet know.

He used the sink to keep himself up, because his legs felt like they might not do such a good job of it. He felt sick to his stomach and that maybe he'd just pass out right there. But he didn't. He just kept staring.

And then there were whispers. They sounded like something straight out of an old ghost movie, and Odd had no idea where they could be coming from. They sounded horrible, scary, _wrong_.

They grew louder and louder, and they started screaming in familiar voices. Screaming at him.

 _"Why?"_

 _"Why would you want to do this? I thought we were_ _ **friends**_ _!"_

 _"You're a_ _ **monster**_ _."_

 _"You want to kill us!"_

Odd backed away from the mirror, because now faces had started appearing and yelling the words for them. He must have slipped at some point because he was on the floor and crawling backwards away from the mirror, but he couldn't remember when he'd started to do so. His head was spinning and his lungs weren't working the way they should. How did breathing work again?

Words were spilling from his own lips, but he himself wasn't even sure what they were. He wondered if they made any sort of sense or if his lips had stopped functioning as well.

His heart was fluttering dangerously fast in his chest, and his limbs felt shaky. He didn't think he could stand even if he wanted to.

He vaguely registered pounding on the door and someone else's voice speaking aside from his own and those in his head. Or maybe they weren't in his head anymore. They were getting so loud, he thought they might have escaped from his mind and slipped into reality.

His back had at some point met the wall, and when he realized this he curled into a little ball and clutched tightly at his ears in an attempt to keep the voices out. It was no use though. They were far too loud and resounded inside his head just as well as out. He couldn't tell where they were coming from anymore.

He heard someone screaming wordlessly, and he thought it sounded angry and terrified and insane all at once.

It took him a moment to realize he'd stopped uttering incomprehensible words.

It took several much longer moments for it to sink in that he was the one screaming.


	7. Chapter Six

**_Okay guys, this is it. The last chapter. There will be a short epilogue that I'll post next Monday, but this is the last full chapter for this story. I'm kind of excited. I'm glad I saw this story all the way through, ya know. I just wanna send out a big thanks to FlowerFoxified for the lovely review. I appreciate all the comments I get, but this one was long and detailed and I loved it! I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations, because I really like it. Sorry if it doesn't, but I'm happy with how this story ends. Well, I mean, this chapter ends on a kind of cliff hanger, but all loose ends will be tied up in the epilogue!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing but Odd's insanity._**

He barely remembered what was going on for several minutes after that. He could only recall small flickers from those moments – the sound of a door being slammed open and muffled voices that went uninterpreted by his ears, clothing flashing by as mere glimpses of color, and eyes staring into his with a frantic sort of fear – before time seemed to catch back up to him and he could breathe again.

"Odd! Odd, can you hear me?" It was Jeremie, taking over the roll of temporary doctor. The others were gathered around him as well, looking on with rightfully nonplussed expressions.

It took Odd a moment to comprehend what had been said, and when he did, he nodded stiffly in response, mind still a bit fuzzy and unfocused.

"Odd? What's the matter? What happened? Are you okay?" Ulrich asked, his words coming out in a concerned rush.

"I-I…" And it was in that very moment that Odd thought that he might just explode. His thoughts were all jumbled up in his head, and he felt that the memories of everything that had happened in the past few days would burn holes in him just because he couldn't forget them. His head was pounding, and his lungs were understandably sore from being deprived of oxygen for so long. Everything just hurt.

And he did explode, in a way. Tears just sort of burst out of him. He didn't even know they were waiting there, burning behind his eyes, until they just spilled down his face in torrents. He was completely caught off guard by his quickly dampening cheeks. He started sobbing, and he rapidly shook his head because no, he was not okay. He hadn't been okay since all this had started.

"Oh, Odd…" Aelita trailed off, staring at him with sad, worried eyes. She probably didn't know what to say, what to do. It was okay though, Odd didn't really know either.

But Odd must have been wrong. Apparently Aelita had _some_ sort of idea of what to do, because before he could even processed what was going on, she pulled him into a hug, a rather comforting, Aelita-like embrace. It would appear that he was the only one who had no idea what to do. Lately, he felt like that all the time. Not really a surprise though, he was presumably going mad. Well, maybe not "presumably" anymore.

Either way, he hugged Aelita back just as tightly when it registered in his mind what she was doing. Hugging Aelita felt nice, a catharsis of sorts. It's what he imagined being hugged by one of his older sisters would feel like, if they ever hugged him. He didn't think he'd appreciate anyone's hugs as much as he did Aelita's, though.

It didn't register for a few moments that he kept muttering "I'm sorry" over and over again like a mantra, but he was surely sorry. He was so sorry it hurt. At this point, he couldn't tell whether his delusions had spilled into reality or not. If it weren't for Aelita holding him, Odd might have assumed she was dead.

"What's wrong, Odd? Why are you sorry?" Ulrich asked gently, like he feared Odd would shatter like glass if he spoke too loudly. Which, to be fair, he just might have. Odd knew that, if he were to look at the other boy, Ulrich would probably look completely confused and concerned. He could hear his words brimming with worry.

Odd thought to answer, but the itching on the back of his neck was brought to his attention, and his face scrunched up in annoyance and possibly even anger. Without really thinking about it, Odd reached behind him and scratched at the spot viciously.

Before the others realized what he was doing enough to stop him, he'd already torn through his skin. He felt something there, beneath his broken, bloodied skin. He pinched it between his fingers and yanked it away from its hiding spot.

Odd stared at the tiny creature sitting in his palm, covered in his own blood. The foreign invader had a symbol on its back, and though he couldn't really make it out due to its small size, he already knew what it was.

And it made him laugh.

He laughed so hard his face hurt, and his friends looked at him like he was going mad, and maybe he was, but for the first time in what had felt like years, it didn't really feel like he was losing his mind. He just felt so… relieved. It wasn't him after all. It was just one of Xana's stupid tricks.

 _He wasn't going crazy._

And he started crying again, big, fat tears that rolled coldly down his warm cheeks. He imagined this had to be some sort of mental breakdown, but at the time he had no idea what the hell was happening, and surprisingly, he didn't mind. At least he knew he hadn't really wanted to hurt anyone. His friends didn't seem to share in his ease, though.

"Odd? What's wrong? Please, tell us what's happening!" Aelita pleaded, on the edge of hysteria as she grabbed his shoulders with trembling hands before Yumi placed a firm hand on the girl's own shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. Odd had forgotten that this whole situation might need a little explaining.

But he needed to be sure first. He glanced at all their faces, all their completely _normal_ faces. They all looked just fine. But wait. Where was…

"W-Where's William?" Odd asked urgently. He didn't think anything that he saw was real, but there was that gap in his memory where he couldn't recall much. What if he did something and couldn't even remember it?

Visions of William appearing like he did in Odd's dream made him nauseous. He couldn't have done that. Not to William.

"I think he's-" Jeremie started, but the boy in question cut him off before he could continue.

"I'm right here." He was leaning against the opposite wall the whole time, though he looked like he was trying surprisingly hard to make himself appear at ease.

Odd flung himself at the taller boy and hugged him, simply because William was alive and he could. Odd had half a mind to be embarrassed – after all, it was one thing to have a freak-out in the presence of your friends and hug them spontaneously, but it was a whole other story when the same happened with the boy who was crushing on one of your best female friends – but he was too relieved that William was alive to feel much else, so terribly relieved, and he didn't even know why. He also didn't care.

William froze up – caught off guard, no doubt, and in an awkward position no less – but he did eventually pat Odd on the back stiffly, like he was unsure of what else to do. That was okay with Odd, so long as William continued to be unsure whilst alive.

Odd only let go when Jeremie asked why there had been a bug with the hauntingly familiar symbol burrowed under his skin, holding said nuisance in the palm of his hand as the bug tried to skitter free. Odd must have dropped it somewhere along the way while rushing toward William, but he couldn't remember when.

So, he detached himself from the older boy with a final glance back at him to be sure that he was still in one piece and standing, breathing, and turned to look at Jeremie and the rest of his friends. A weight settled in his chest, painfully heavy and suffocating. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to get the words passed his lips.

"Just take a deep breath, Odd," Aelita instructed in that soft, patient voice of her's. "You don't have to tell us just yet, if you don't want to."

Odd shook his head. He knew he had to. This concerned them as much as it did him, now that they knew Xana was involved. Of course, Odd wasn't sure how much of it he was allowed to say in front of William, but he was incredibly reluctant to let him leave. If he couldn't see him, how could he be sure he was alive?

Aelita seemed to pick up on his hesitancy to speak, and so said, "William, maybe you should-"

"No!" Odd shouted without even thinking, because fear had begun to creep back into his throat, and he was starting to find it hard to take air into his lungs once more.

The pinkette looked startled to have been interrupted so suddenly by him, but he continued anyway while everyone stared on, dumbfounded and speechless. "I just- It's just that- I need to- I-I- I need to make sure that you're all okay, a-and I can't do that if-if I can't see you."

They all were silent for a short time before Ulrich said, "Are you sure? Because William isn't exactly, um, _informed_."

"I think that… I think that we should tell him. He's seen the bug and… and something that's happened sort of… it sort of involves him, and I think we should tell him because I can't let him leave because if I don't see you guys I won't- I can't be sure and-and I have to be sure because-because-"

He was hyperventilating again, and Jeremie had to tell him to calm down lest he have another panic attack. So that was what that was. Odd didn't really know before.

"Odd, it's okay, just calm down," the brainiac instructed, and Odd did his very best to follow.

Once he'd regained his breath, he said, "I just… think we should tell him."

Jeremie glanced to his left at Aelita, as if the whole decision were up to her, and it kind of was, considering she was in the Lyoko world for as long as she could remember. But Aelita just turned the look over to Yumi, who then leveled Ulrich with it. It was like they were trying to come to some silent agreement with only their eyes.

Odd felt William shift nervously just behind him where the boy was leaning against the wall, but the male remained uncharacteristically quiet, like he could feel the severity of the situation in the very air they all breathed. And then, finally, they came to a decision.

Aelita took a deep breath and began to speak, "Odd, I think-"

She stopped herself so abruptly that Odd was caught off guard. Everyone seemed to be, except for Aelita. She simply looked at Odd – at the way he stood, or maybe the way he held himself, or maybe just the way he breathed; Odd couldn't be sure exactly what – and a look of realization settled over her features, a look like she'd just had the biggest epiphany in the whole world, and only about Odd himself.

She blinked once, twice, three times, and then gave Odd a smile, a soft smile like she had just figured something out that was both good and bad. If Odd had to guess what it was at that moment, he probably would say that she guessed what happened, or something close to it, but he couldn't really know. He wasn't a mind-reader, but he got the feeling that maybe Aelita was.

Then she continued like nothing happened, that strange, sad-happy smile still in its place on her pale face. "I think that it'd be okay to tell him, if you think so."

The others all looked to Aelita, shocked. Odd figured that hadn't been at all what they settled on. Maybe Aelita wasn't a mind-reader, or maybe she just didn't care that they wanted to keep the secret from William. In the end, the rest didn't object because, like Odd thought earlier, it was really her decision.

And so, with their consent, Odd braced himself, clasping his unsteady hands together to keep them still and taking a shaky breath to calm his trembling body, and began to speak.


	8. Epilogue

**_Hey guy! Merry belated Christmas! And also, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS THE END! This is the final installment of "From the Inside Out." I hope you guys enjoy this little piece, and remember to leave a review telling me your thoughts on the whole story! See you in my next story, if you read it!_**

 ** _P.S. Do you guys want a sequel? Cuz like, I have an idea for one, but there will be some OddxWilliam BECAUSE GODDAMMIT I SHIP IT. I tried to only hint at it here so people who don't ship it can still enjoy this story, but it'll be full-fledged in the sequel. Sorry for those who don't ship it! Anyway, tell me if you guys want that._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko._**

Once Odd explained everything, albeit with a bit of difficulty, the Lyoko Warriors went in and deactivated the tower Xana was using to control the bug, minus Odd, who stayed behind with Jeremie and an awestruck William in the factory. Odd would have liked to say that was when everything started to return to normal, but really, everything didn't. It took a while after the incident for things to even start to go back to a semi-normal state, and still they were never quite the same.

For one, the first few weeks following everything, his friends treated him like he was made of paper. Odd appreciated them trying to help, really he did, but eventually he just got so frustrated with them holding their breath around him that he blew up and told them to treat him like they always had, or at least something similar to what they used to, because he knew things would never be exactly the way they were, but this cautious sort of interaction was driving him mad. And he'd felt what it was like to go mad, so he was pretty sure. After that, they acted mostly normal, aside from a few worried glances here and there. Especially when he was around blood.

Odd couldn't stand the stuff, didn't want to see it or smell it or feel it. He didn't want it anywhere near him. That was one thing that would probably never go back to the way it used to be. He couldn't even use the fake stuff in his films anymore, it just made him sick.

And speaking of films, he found he couldn't sit through horror movies anymore. Not the ones with blood or gore or the dead walking. The first and only time he watched one since the incident, he screamed like he was the one being murdered, and Jeremie told him that he was shouting about monsters and "I'm sorry"s. He generally stayed away from anything having to do with horror after that, but if he ever decided to watch one of the movies, it needed to be thoroughly reviewed for any triggers first.

Just about the only good thing that came from the ordeal was William's companionship. Odd didn't expect it at first, and he was sure William didn't either, but the older boy wormed his way into their little group, and Odd found that, unlike Ulrich and possibly Yumi, he quite liked it that way. It was nice to have someone else to depend, even though he'd probably never admit it. And he depended on William for a lot.

While Ulrich was the one he went to when he was having the nightmares again – the nightmares of blood and knives and whispered truths that were really just lies – due to the fact that he shared a room with him, he went to William with just about everything else. Or, rather, William sort of came to him.

Like the time he watched the movie, William was there, and it was strange that he could be so nice when Odd used to be so mean. And when he accidentally got a cut on his hands – the worst place of all for there to be blood because _he could never seem_ _to get it off_ – and it was during one of those times that he found himself alone – because he found alone time to be seldom seen and looked for it as often as he could – William just sort of popped up as if he had some kind of Odd's-in-pain radar and could just tell where he was at anytime he was injured. Those were the times that Odd was so, so grateful to have William for a friend, because somehow he was more aware of Odd then anyone else seemed to be, except for maybe Aelita, given her caring nature.

So, all in all, he guessed it wasn't so bad, the way things ended up. The bug was gone – Odd crushed it between his fingers the moment he finished telling them everything, despite Jeremie's complaints about wanting to study it, because he refused to let that thing continue to exist – and, while he may have been suffering from slight PTSD and the occasional panicked attack, as Jeremie called them, at least he gained a new friend and grown closer to all his old ones.

Of course, there would never be a day when he wouldn't look at them and think about the "what if"s. What if it wasn't Xana? What if he killed them? What if he went off the deep end and didn't remember their murders and was simply imagining all of this in his head?

He could never get rid of them, but he figured that he'd be okay, if only because of his friends. He didn't think he could ever survive without them. If it weren't for them – Yumi, Jeremie, Ulrich, Aelita, and William – he'd have been torn apart from the inside out a long time ago.


End file.
